Forced Marriage and ‘Honour’ Based Abuse

What is Forced Marriage?

“A forced marriage is where one or both people do not or cannot consent to the marriage and pressure or abuse is used to force them into the marriage. It is also when anything is done to make someone marry before they turn 18, even if there is no pressure or abuse. Forced marriage is illegal in the UK.   It is a form of domestic abuse and a serious abuse of human rights. 

“The pressure put on people to marry against their will may be: 

• physical: for example, threats, physical violence or sexual violence 

• emotional and psychological: for example, making someone feel like they are bringing ‘shame’ on their family 

• financial abuse, for example taking someone’s wages, may also be a factor.”

GOV.UK

What is Honour Based Abuse?

“Honour-based abuse is an incident or crime involving violence, threats of violence, intimidation coercion or abuse (including psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse) which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of an individual, family and/ or community for alleged or perceived breaches of the family and/or community’s code of behaviour. 

Honour-based crimes could include: 

• Attempted murder; 

• Manslaughter; 

• Procuring an abortion; 

• Encouraging or assisting suicide; 

• Conspiracy to murder; 

• Conspiracy to commit a variety of assaults.”

GOV.UK

What Support Is Available?

You can find support at the university for yourself or someone you are worried about via Report It.

You can find support from the police by calling 101 (non-emergency), or 999 (emergency), or by visiting your local police station.

If you are on a university campus and in an emergency situation, after calling 999 you may wish to contact the University Security team (emergencies: 0161 295 3333) for additional support and to help the emergency services reach you quickly. 

If you require additional support information beyond the information provided, we recommend that you contact the team directly via report-it@salford.ac.uk.

Staff members are encouraged to find additional information about staff reporting via Report It on the Staff Hub.